Trailing or drag device used with trawl nets



24, 1940. I TRAILING 0R J; CHANT Filed Aug. 4, 1939 Patented Dec. 24, 1940 TRAILING R DRAG- DEVICE USED WITH TRAWL NETS John Chant, Plymstock, England Application August 4, 1939, Serial No. 288,485

In Great Britain August 5, 1938 3 Claims.

This invention relates to trailing or drag devices for use with trawl nets for the purpose of holding down a net substantially on thesea bed, and concerns a device for the purpose which embodies .a series of rollers connected together in spaced apart relation by connecting means having headed members rotatable in sockets provided at the ends of the rollers, the rollers being adapted to roll upon the sea bed and being furnished with means for supporting the net.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide the rollers with tyres at a low cost and in a manner that such a tyre can be readily and easily replaced by the owner of the device. A further object is to utilise the wall portions of discarded outer covers of pneumatic tyres in the making of such a tyre.

The invention concerns a method of providing a tyre on a roller of the kind aforesaid, which consists in removing the tread portions from a plurality of pneumatic-tyre outer covers, threading the discs constituted by the remaining wall portions of said covers on to the roller so that said discs become packed together in collateral relation, and applying retaining means to the roller for holding the said discs thus assembled. The invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein: Figure 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through the periphery of a roller fitted with a tyre formed in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 is an elevation of said roller, and Figure 3 is a cross section through an outer cover of a pneumatic tyre, the dot-and-dash 35 line indicating the manner of cutting same in order to produce the tyre forming discs.

Referring to the drawing, a roller comprising a hollow body with a cylindrical centre section 4 has the said cylindrical section encircled by a 40 plurality of resilient discs 5 which are closely packed together in collateral relation to form a substantially solid body constituting a tyre. The said discs are clamped between an annular stop 6 screwed and/or welded or otherwise secured on to one end of said cylindrical portion 4 and a clamping ring I screwed On to said portion 4 at its other end, said ring being locked by set screws or other suitable means if necessary. 5 As shown, the roller may comprise, in addition to the said cylindrical portion 4, domeshaped or disc-like end members 8 welded to the respective ends of said part 4, and the said end members 8 are provided with coupling means 9 55 of any suitable form for connection to adjacent rollers. These, however, are constructional features with which the invention is not concerned.

It forms a feature of the invention that the tyre-forming discs 5 are formed from discarded pneumatic-tyre outer covers. Such covers are out along the line Ill-H] (Figure 3) thus removing the tread portion. The remaining wall portions ll constitute the discs 5 above referred to. Said discs are, in consequence of the usual shape of a tyre cover, of curved shape in cross section, and when placed individually on the roller they are so arranged that the convex face of one fits into the concave face of the next disc and so on throughout the set except in the case of one of the endmost discs. Since the said concave and convex curvatures approximately correspond with one another, a substantially solid tyre is formed. The usual embedded reinforcing wires 12 which were provided for the tyre afford strength to maintain the discs in place and resist stresses occasioned in rolling over the sea bed.

As is well known the trailing device is drawn along the sea bed by hawsers connected to its ends, the device splaying into an arcuate shape. Thus the rollers on each side of the centre of the set have a combined rolling and slidingv trawl over the sea bed. In order therefore to prevent the tyre made as aforesaid from gripping the sea bed, the tyre-forming discs are arranged so that the concave sides thereof face the centre of length of the assembly of rollers, those on the rollers of one half therefore facing in the opposite way to those on the rollers of the other half.

I claim:

1. A method of forming a roller from the discarded shoes of pneumatic tires having wire reinforced beads consisting in cutting away and rejecting the tread portions of a plurality of such pneumatic tire shoes, thereby to form concentric annular discs constituted by the remaining wall portions, each disc retaining the wire reinforcement at its inner margin, threading said discs on to a hollow cylindrical body having a diameter substantially equal to the original internal diameter of the tire shoe, and clamping the assembly of said discs in position on the hollow face of the next disc and so on throughout the set except in the case of one endmost disc, at stop ring on one end of the hollow body, and a clamping ring screwed on the other end of said hollow body, said stop and clamping rings cooperating to exert pressure on the ends of the assemblage of discs in an annular zone which encompasses the annular zone of the wire reinforcements.

' JOHN CHANT. 

